Die for



(No Model.)

A. LATHAM- DIE FOR APPLYING PLASTIG GOVERINGS 0N EYELETS.

N0. 579,275. Patented Mar. 23, 1897.

TlNrTEn TaTEs PATENT EETEE,

ALBERT LATHAM, OF SPRING-FIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

DIE FOR APPLYENG PLASTIC COVERINGS ON EYELETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 579,275, dated March 23, 1897.

Application filed April 15, l 896.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ALBERT LATHAM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Springfield, l-lampden county, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Dies for Applying Plastic Coverings on Eyelets, of which the follow ing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the constructions in the means or dies for applying plastic coverings on eyelets.

In the manufacture of covered eyelets as at present generally practiced there is great waste in the plastic celluloid employed, a common method being to provide a strip or sheet of the material to overlie a series of eyelets in holes therefor in dies and by a high pressure to force the head-coverin g multiple die against such sheet or strip, there being fully as much or more waste material remaining between the dies of different sets or pairs as is utilized for and applied on'the head of the eyelet. In the market a high price is demanded for celluloid suitable for covering eyelets, while for the waste or scrap but a small percentage of the original price is allowed on its return to the producer. It therefore becomes important to devise means whereby there may be introduced, subject to the cooperative action of each set of the headcovering dies employed, celluloid sufficient for all requirements, and yet of such quantity as to leave a minimum of waste, and also of such shape that it will become centered or brought truly to juxtaposition relative to the eyelet in the eyelet-receivin g die rapidly and without especial care.

The invention contemplates forming eyelet shells and blanks of material which is susceptible of becoming plastic under heat separately, the blanks being of a shape and having such an area as will comprise a circle approximately that of the head desired for the coinpleted eyelet and having, in addition thereto, outlying portions of equal extent the extremities of which are comprised in a certain greater imaginary circle supporting the eyelet in a hole in a die and introducing the blank in a recess around the mouth of the hole, permitting the same to become, selfcentering over the eyelet by the said outlying extremities touching the wall of said recess,

Serial Np. 587,639. (No model.)

rendering the said blank plastic by the application of heat and while in such plastic state molding it to form the head on the eyelet.

The means for carrying out the present improvement is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and set forth in the claim.

Figure 1 is a very much enlarged section through the set of dies, an eyelet being shown as supported in the lower die and having resting on its upper end the blank from which to mold on the head. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the lower die, the eyelet being indicated therein, and the centered blank is shown as resting on the eyelet. Fig. 3 is a sectional view similar to Fig. l, but as taken on the planeindicated by the line 3 3, Fig. 2, the dies being together and the head molded on the eyelet. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the lower or eyelet-receiving die as on a less enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a sheet of celluloid, indicating by dotted lines the crossing lines on which it is severed to produce blanks of the shape best calculated to carry out the object of my invention. Fig. 6 is a perspective view representing several of the blanks. Fig. 7 is a view in the nature of a diagram to illustrate a particular feature of this improvement to be especially referred to hereinafter.

In the drawings, A represents the lower die,

which is the eyelet-receiving die, havingthe socket a therein for the reception of the shank of the eyelet-shell .90. There is a circular recess l) somewhat widely surrounding the orifice of the socket, the base of which is preferably Hat.

)3 represents the upper die, which is the head-forming die, provided with the circular headforming depression cl, the inner boundary of which is constituted by the central boss or projection f, the base f of which is approximately conical, while the lower portion thereof may, proceeding from the said base portion f be more or less conical, or

cylindrical, or hemispherical, this formation being immaterial in carrying out the present improvement. In fact, the said base may, if

desired, terminate about on a level with the lower end portion 9 of the headformingd-ie.

The head-formin g die is understood as having a cylindrical portion h outside of the circular depression diametrically corresponding about to the diameter of the aforesaid recess 1), its lower end being, however, tapered, as seen at '13, to produce the circular cutting edge at g, which is at some considerable distance, comparatively considered, within the circular boundary-wall of the depression I). In Figs. 2, 4, 7, and 8 the dotted circle g indicates the said cutting edge, which is substantially the boundary of the completed head.

I form square blanks w of such a size that the diameters thereof are approximately of the same length as the diameter of the completed eyelet-head, while the diagonals are of approximately the diameter of the recess 1). These may be easily produced without waste from a sheet IV of celluloid, as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. The eyelet-shell LU is introduced into the socket therefor and is supported with its upper end above the base of recess 1), but below the top of the die-plate A, regarded as a whole. The square blank 10 is introduced into the recess b, its corners touching the circular wall thereof, whereby it becomes centered over the eyelet. The blank is next brought to a plastic condition by the application of heat, which may be transmitted through the agency of the head-forming die or otherwise, but preferably as stated, and by reason of the descent of such die under forcible pressure upon the blank. The circular cutting edge 9 of the die B severs the corner portions 20 of the blank as the head is being formed and molded on the eyelet-shell, and by reason of its formation converging down to such cutting edge there is, between the latter and the circular wall of recess Z), when the dies are together, an annular spaces, triangular in cross-contour, which allows for the outlying portions of the blank to so flow as to permit the head-covering die to bottom on the base of the recess, and thus clogging or chokin g by the slight overplus of the plastic stock is avoided.

In carrying forward this invention on an extensive scale sets of die-plates having the dies in multiple series are provided and the eyelet-shells are assembled in the receivingdies by known means with great rapidity. A

plate of multiple dies having the eyelets therein is then covered with a mass of the square blanks of the relative size particularly stated, a sufficient number of which, on being agitated or moved over the die-plate, will respectively drop into the recesses 19, self-centering themselves over the eyelets, while the residue of the mass is swept off from the die. This in practice amounts to a great saving in time and. labor, and in the operation of the invention there is a substantial saving in the plastic covering material.

I have devised an improvement in this art which involves the employment of washers of plastic material and the centering thereof by the depending conical projection on the headforming die, and have, on March 24, 1896, under Serial No. 584,668, filed an application for patent therefor, as I regard that a practical and desirable way of covering eyelets, but I regard the herein-described method preferable to any other known for covering eyelets with plastic materially economically and rapidly.

I claim In a set of dies, for applying molded coverings on eyelets by the employment of square blanks of plastic material comprising, centrally, an area corresponding to that ,of the head of the completed eyelet, together with the outwardly-proj ectin g corner portions, the combination with an eyeletreceiving die having a socket for the reception of the shank of the eyelet-shell, and having surrounding the mouth of said socket a circular recess equal in diameter to a diagonal of the said square blank, whereby in assemblage of the blank relative to the eyelet supported in the die the corners of the blank will, by the circular wall of the recess be centered as it assumes its position of rest on the eyelet, of a head-forming die having a head-forming depression surrounded by a circular cutting edge corresponding to the size of the completed eyelet-head, said die tapering downwardly from above said cutting edge to said edge, whereby as said edge bottoms on the base of the said recess in the receiving-die, there will be a clearance-space marginally in said recess, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT LATIIAM. Witnesses:

WM. S. BELLows, N. M. BELLows. 

